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In this study, we propose an innovative driving method for a microrobot. By using acoustic levitation, the microrobot can be levitated from the glass substrate. We are able to achieve positioning accuracy of less than 1 μm, and the response speed and output force are also significantly improved. Silicon-based microrobots can be made into diverse shapes using deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE). Using custom-designed microrobots allows for the 3-D rotational control of a single bovine oocyte. Orientation with an accuracy of 1° and an average rotation velocity of 3 rad/s are achieved. This study contributes to the biotechnology. In the study of oocytes/embryos, manipulation is used for the enucleation, microinjection, and investigation of the characteristics of oocytes, such as the meiotic spindle and zona pellucida using PolScope. These studies and their clinical applications involve the three-dimensional (3-D) rotation of mammalian oocytes. The overall out-of-plane and in-plane rotations of the oocyte are demonstrated by using an acoustically levitated microrobot. In addition, by using this approach, it becomes much easier to manipulate the cell to investigate the characteristics of the single cell and analyze its mechanical properties.

In this study, we propose a novel fa ll prevention scheme fo r an omni-direction type cane robot by using a DC motor driven universal joint. The cane robot which is driven by three omni-wheels is called Intelligent Cane Robot (iCane). It is designed fo r aiding the elderly and handicapped people walking as shown in Fig.I. The motion of cane robot is controlled fo r both normal and abnormal walking conditions. The user's normal walking aided by the cane robot, a concept called "Intentional Direction (lTD)" is proposed. Guided by the online estimated ITO, we apply the admittance control method in the motion control of cane robot. For the abnormal walking, we mainly studied the case of user's fa ll down. The center of gravity (COG) of user can be estimated fr om the angle of an inverted pendulum which represents human dynamic model. Fall prevention algorithm based on the relationship between user's COG and the cane is proposed. Because the size of the cane robot is small, when the robot is preventing the user fa lling down, firstly, the stability of the cane robot should be ensured.A universal joint which is driven by two DC motors is used to reduce the moment causing the cane robot fa lling over.The proposed method is verified through experiments.